Abstract

Evolution over the eons has made Nature a treasure trove of clever solutions to sustainability, resilience, and ways to efficiently utilize scarce resources. The Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering will draw lessons from nature to engineer innovative solutions to our grand challenges in energy, water, materials, health, and living space.

Rather than imitating nature out of context or succumbing to superficial analogies, research at the Centre will take a decidedly scientific approach to uncover fundamental mechanisms underlying desirable traits, and apply these mechanisms to design and synthesise artificial systems that hereby borrow the traits of the natural model. The Centre will initially focus on three key mechanisms, as they are so prevalent in nature, amenable to practical implementation, and are expected to have transformational impact on urgent issues in sustainability and scalable manufacturing. These mechanisms are: (T1) "Hierarchical Transport Networks": the way nature bridges microscopic to macroscopic length scales in order to preserve the intricate microscopic or cellular function throughout (as in trees, lungs and the circulatory system); (T2) "Force Balancing": the balanced use of fundamental forces, e.g., electrostatic attraction/repulsion and geometrical confinement in microscopic spaces (as in protein channels in cell membranes, which trump artificial membranes in selective, high-permeation separation performance); and (T3) "Dynamic Self-Organisation": the creation of robust, adaptive and self-healing communities thanks to collective cooperation and emergence of complex structures out of much simpler individual components (as in bacterial communities and in biochemical cycles).

Such nature-inspired, rather than narrowly biomimetic approach, allows us to marry advanced manufacturing capabilities and access to non-physiological conditions, with nature's versatile mechanisms that have been remarkably little employed in a rational, bespoke manner. High-performance computing and experimentation now allow us to unravel fundamental mechanisms, from the atomic to the macroscopic, in an unprecedented way, providing the required information to transcend empiricism, and guide practical realisations of nature-inspired designs.

In first instance, three examples will be developed to validate each of the aforementioned natural mechanisms, and simultaneously apply them to problems of immediate relevance that tie in to the Grand Challenges in energy, water, materials and scalable manufacturing. These are: (1) robust, high-performance fuel cells with greatly reduced amount of precious catalyst, by using a lung-inspired architecture; (2) membranes for water desalination inspired by the mechanism of biological cell membranes; (3) high-performance functional materials, resp. architectural design (cities, buildings), informed by agent-based modelling on bacteria-inspired, resp. human communities, to identify roads to robust, adaptive complex systems.

To meet these ambitious goals, the Centre assembles an interdisciplinary team of experts, from chemical and biochemical engineering, to computer science, architecture, materials, chemistry and genetics. The Centre researchers collaborate with, and seek advice from industrial partners from a wide range of industries, which accelerates practical implementation. The Centre has an open, outward looking mentality, inviting broader collaboration beyond the core at UCL. It will devote significant resources to explore the use of the validated nature-inspired mechanisms to other applications, and extend investigation to other natural mechanisms that may inform solutions to problems in sustainability and scalable manufacturing.

Planned Impact

The Centre will be a national hub, an enabler, with a unique "platform" approach to innovation. It will stimulate many areas of critical, national importance, in particular in the focus areas of sustainable manufacturing and resource efficiency. This is underscored by letters of support from over a dozen industries (Maxeler, Shell, Johnson Matthey, AFC Energy, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Harris, Aedas, Sabic, Synfuels China, Antecy/BIOeCON, Air Products/MATGAS, GE, PSRI, ExxonMobil, and Quantachrome). More than half of these are based in the UK, or have very significant commercial, manufacturing and/or R&D activity in the UK. There is a balance of SMEs and multinationals, start-ups and companies with a long history.

Senior technical representatives from these companies will serve on the Centre's Advisory Group, and will be involved in workshops, sandpits and annual "show and tell" events. Companies will share expertise and resources. There will be joint UCL "Impact" studentships (co-funded by industry and UCL), as well as internships and secondments. This boosts the success and practical relevance of the projects, and opens roads to implementation and commercialisation. This mechanism also trains researchers to be future leaders.

UCL Business will facilitate the generation and exploitation of intellectual property, and has ample experience in doing so. An example is the Electrochemical Innovation Lab, headed by co-I Dan Brett, and established in 2011 to identify commercial opportunities early in the development cycle and accelerate progression through Technology Readiness Levels, via targeted research programmes. This already led to two spin-outs this year.

The nature-inspired engineering approach is a "natural" pathway to scalability, via its core themes of hierarchical transport networks, force balancing, and dynamic self-organisation. It enables the more efficient use of scarce resources (energy, water, materials), while delivering innovative methods to create smart materials, products and processes. The Flagship Projects developed initially in the themes are intimately related to energy, water, sustainable chemical production and the built environment. Contributing to the long-term viability of the Centre, there is an opportunity to expand beyond these areas in other projects that are seeded by the Centre, with support from industrial partners and involvement of academics from other universities. Such short- and medium-term projects will be evaluated by the Management Group and a subset of the Advisory Group to ensure quality and a close fit to the Centre Objectives.

Public engagement is an important objective of the Centre. We believe that nature-inspired engineering is a concept that can inspire the general public, including school children, in realising the significance of scientifically led engineering research. Research findings will not only be disseminated via high-impact scientific and engineering journals, but also via the popular media, a professional website, social media, public exhibitions (UCL Slade School of Fine Art, and UCL Grant Museum), and other engagement activities. This will be facilitated by our Faculty Communication Officer, Kate Oliver, and Co-I Mark Miodownik, who is himself a writer and broadcaster with regular appearances on TV and radio.

With this, the Centre aims to become recognised as the world-leading centre in nature-inspired engineering, and, thanks to its agenda focusing on sustainability, resource efficiency and scalable manufacturing, be a strong enabler to innovation, the economy and a higher quality of life.

The CNIE designed a new brochure to highlight and promote the key activities and achievements of the Centre. It aims to give audiences an insight into our research and to maximize on outreach and engagement.

Type Of Art

Artwork

Year Produced

2018

Impact

The CNIE brochure was distributed at the Annual CNIE Advisory meeting and conference, with over hundred copies being shared. Members of the CNIE group also take copies to key events and meetings both nationally and internationally.

Title

CNIE Research Facility video

Description

The CNIE produced a new video to promote our range of state-of-the-art equipment to help lead to further collaborations

Type Of Art

Film/Video/Animation

Year Produced

2018

Impact

We've had close to 170 views on YouTube and it has led to interest in research and lab equipment

Forget oil, coal and gas - a new set of materials is shaping our world and they're so bizarre they may as well be alien technology. In the first BBC documentary to be filmed entirely on smartphones, material scientist Prof Mark Miodownik reveals the super elements that underpin our high-tech world. We have become utterly dependent on them, but they are rare and they're already running out. The stuff that makes our smartphones work could be gone in a decade and our ability to feed the world depends mostly on a mineral found in just one country. Mark reveals the magical properties of these extraordinary materials and finds out what we can do to save them

Prof Marc-Olivier Coppens gave a talk on 'Drawing lessons from nature to engineer innovative solutions to our grand challenges' at The IET Engineering the Future Festival (IET London: Savoy Place, 6th October 2016). The video of his presentation is available here: https://tv.theiet.org/?eventvideoid=9319

The Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering (CNIE) has developed an unprecedented, systematic methodology to discover fundamental mechanisms in nature, which underpin desirable properties (such as scalability, efficiency of resilience), and apply these mechanisms to implement transformative, innovative solutions to a broad range of engineering challenges. The systematic methodologies developed in the CNIE are demonstrating their appeal beyond the original areas of sustainability and scalable manufacturing, which remain the CNIE's core objectives, to applications in health and biomedical engineering, and the built environment. The CNIE is a vehicle for innovation, accelerating discovery and offering unexpected solutions by promoting lateral thinking. Its inherently cross-disciplinary work is leading to new findings, patents, commercial interests and entrepreneurial activity, on dental bone graft substitute materials, toothpaste and nacre-inspired materials that allow for actuating controlled drug release, as well as more efficient and robust fuel cell technology, novel catalysts for clean chemical and energy processes, novel ways to intensify the operation of multiphase reactors, and multi-functional smart wall coatings. Apart from Flagship Projects, the CNIE's Inspiration Grant scheme continues to be a powerful mechanism to attract a diverse body of talented researchers to the CNIE, broaden the Centre's disciplinary reach, and raise its visibility. Each provides short-term funds for projects applying the nature-inspired approach (typically around 6 months in duration) and must include a Co-I or project partner from an external academic institution or industrial partner. Inspiration Grants create not only publications and other research deliverables, but also form the basis for follow-on, externally funded projects and entrepreneurship. To date, the Centre has issued 15 Inspiration Grants, bringing together UCL researchers with at least 20 external academic and industrial partners. These Inspiration Grants have formed the basis for spreading the use of the nature-inspired engineering methodology and its applications, with a number of successful follow-on applications already totalling approximately £3.4M.

Exploitation Route

The Centre will become a national hub, an enabler, with a unique platform approach to innovation. It will stimulate many areas of critical, national importance, in particular in the focus areas of sustainable manufacturing and resource efficiency. This is underscored by letters of support from over a dozen industries (Maxeler, Shell, Johnson Matthey, AFC Energy, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Harris, Aedas, Sabic, Synfuels China, Antecy/BIOeCON, Air Products/MATGAS, GE,PSRI, ExxonMobil, and Quantachrome). More than half of these are based in the UK, or have very significant commercial,manufacturing and/or activity in the UK. There is a balance of SMEs and multinationals, start-ups and companies with a long history.Senior technical representatives from these companies serve on the Centre's Advisory Group, and are involved inworkshops, sandpits and annual show and tell vents. Companies will share expertise and resources. There will be joint UCL Impact; studentships (co-funded by industry and UCL), as well as internships and secondments. This boosts the success and practical relevance of the projects, and opens roads to implementation and commercialisation. This mechanism also trains researchers to be future leaders.

UCL Business will facilitate the generation and exploitation of intellectual property, and has ample experience in doing so.An example is the Electrochemical Innovation Lab, headed by co-I Dan Brett, and established in 2011 to identify commercial opportunities early in the development cycle and accelerate progression through Technology Readiness Levels, via targeted research programmes. This already led to two spin-outs.

As the CNIE is entering its 6th year of operation, both the breadth and depth of its activities have considerably expanded, to a level beyond what could have been hoped for at its inception - in research, education, public engagement, and translation to practice. Results from the Flagship projects are being published in the best journals in the field, including a double-cover of Chem. Eng. J., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., an article in J. Am. Chem. Soc. that was highlighted by Nature Nanotechnology, Phys. Rev. Fluids, ACS Catalysis and ACS Appl. Mat. Int., and an article on "A lung-inspired approach to scalable and robust fuel cell design," which made the cover of Energy & Environmental Science (IF 30), was hailed hot paper of 2017 and cited in the first editorial of Nature Catalysis. To date, the core of the CNIE alone has produced >60 peer-reviewed publications in major journals, spanning disciplines from energy to healthcare, without even counting papers from numerous projects by often early career investigators emerging from or who collaborated with the CNIE. The methodologies developed in the Centre are demonstrating their appeal beyond the original areas of sustainability and scalable manufacturing, which remain the CNIE's core objectives, to applications in health and biomedical engineering, and the built environment. This is leading to new fundamental insights, new patents, commercial interests and entrepreneurial activity, on dental bone graft substitute materials, toothpaste and nacre-inspired, adaptive materials that allow for actuating controlled release, as well as more efficient and robust fuel cell technology. Industrial interest has been steadily growing, leading to useful exchanges with at least 40 companies and national laboratories in the UK and internationally, but also to several additional projects in collaboration with or funded by industry. Internationally, the CNIE engages with other leading research centres around the world, from the Mesoscience programme in China to IFPEN in France and NETL in the USA. Process intensification is internationally regarded as a major strategic target, with CNIE leading in this area. On the educational front, an elective course with taught and project components on Nature Inspired Chemical Engineering at UCL is attracting 65 MEng and MSc students, while workshops are held at international conferences, and the first ECI Conference on Nature Inspired Engineering, initiated by the CNIE, will be held in Italy this year. Diversity in every sense of the word is both a natural component and a source of success for the CNIE. Furthermore, the CNIE enthusiastically organises numerous outreach activities, hosts In2Science and Nuffield students and is the home for a UCL Engineering-based Summer Challenge for promising students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

UCL Grand Challenges Doctoral School Small Grant on Transforming Immunotherapy with Nature-Inspired Engineering

Amount

£1,993 (GBP)

Organisation

University College London

Department

UCL Global Engagement Office

Sector

Academic/University

Country

United Kingdom

Start

06/2017

End

07/2018

Description

UK Japan Civil Nuclear Energy Collaboration Phase 4

Amount

£253,038 (GBP)

Funding ID

EP/R019223/1

Organisation

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Sector

Academic/University

Country

United Kingdom

Start

10/2017

End

03/2020

Description

Underpinning Multi-User Equipment At UCL

Amount

£1,997,856 (GBP)

Funding ID

EP/P030084/1

Organisation

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Sector

Academic/University

Country

United Kingdom

Start

04/2017

End

03/2018

Description

Video Liquid Transmission Electron Microscopy

Amount

£37,497 (GBP)

Funding ID

EP/N010906/1

Organisation

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Sector

Academic/University

Country

United Kingdom

Start

12/2015

End

11/2018

Title

Doehlert marix model

Description

The Doehlert matrix model was used, to investigate optimum synthetic conditions of titanosilicates. The Doehlert matrix is a second-order statistical model, widely utilized as a tool in analytical sciences, to discover the most effective experimental conditions. The model allows simultaneous change of two or more experimental parameters, determined by sets of multiplication factors. The probe limits of the experimental parameters are controlled by the researcher.

Type Of Material

Technology assay or reagent

Provided To Others?

No

Impact

Using such an efficient, multivariate statistical approach significantly reduces the required number of experiments for an optimization study.

Title

Materials Library

Description

The Materials Library is a collection of some of the most wondrous materials on earth, gathered from sheds, labs, grottoes and repositories around the world. It is a resource, laboratory, studio, and playground for the curious and material-minded to conduct hands-on research through truly interdisciplinary inquiry and innovation.

Type Of Material

Improvements to research infrastructure

Year Produced

2006

Provided To Others?

Yes

Impact

Materials Libraries have become a tool worldwide for connecting materials scientists and materials practitioners from the arts and cultural industries.

The Doehlert matrix model was used, to investigate optimum synthetic conditions of titanosilicates. The Doehlert matrix is a second-order statistical model, widely utilized as a tool in analytical sciences, to discover the most effective experimental conditions. The model allows simultaneous change of two or more experimental parameters, determined by sets of multiplication factors. The probe limits of the experimental parameters are controlled by the researcher.

Type Of Material

Data analysis technique

Provided To Others?

No

Impact

Using such an efficient, multivariate statistical approach significantly reduces the required number of experiments for an optimization study.

Description

AFC energy

Organisation

AFC Energy Ltd

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2013

Description

ANTECY

Organisation

Antecy BV

Country

Netherlands

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2013

Description

Accelerate the adoption of novel intensified mixers to biodiesel production industry.

Organisation

Greenergy International

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

Investigation of the hydrodynamic feature in intensified impinging jets mixers.

Collaborator Contribution

in-kind contribution to this project in the form of staff time, providing materials, and use of their site facilities whenever required.

Impact

Familiarization with biodiesel industry.
development of separation technologies and demonstration of their efficiency in applications suggested by the industrial partner.

Start Year

2016

Description

Aedas Architects

Organisation

Aedas

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2013

Description

AstraZeneca UK

Organisation

AstraZeneca

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2013

Description

AstraZeneca protein crystallisation

Organisation

AstraZeneca

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

Supply many porous materials as nucleants for crystallisation study, including the work involved in synthesising and characterising. Assisting in the set up of screening experiments. Assisting in the analysis of data collected.

Data not yet synthesised into publication. Study will involve disciplines of nanotechnology and biotechnology.

Start Year

2015

Description

Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry - CNIE Inspiration Grant: Bioactive Aerogels - Preclinical Development of a Novel Bone Grafting Material

Organisation

Queen Mary University of London

Department

Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Academic/University

PI Contribution

Inspiration Grant was awarded to perform a collaboratory project between the CNIE at UCL and Bart's and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. This project builds upon two other successful research grants, Discovery-to-Use (EPSRC) and a Launchpad Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), to further develop a novel bone grafting material developed within the Centre.

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Paper published on Electrochemistry Communications about the use of microtomography as a diagnostic tool for electrode degradation in vanadium redox flow batteries.
Another paper is prepared on the use of in-situ Raman for the investigation of PtO formation mechanism during fuel cell operation

Start Year

2014

Description

Collaboration McGill

Organisation

McGill University

Country

Canada

Sector

Academic/University

PI Contribution

Synthesis of metal/metal alloy nanoparticles using electrospraying
Synthesis of composite graphite fibers using electrospinning
Modeling of electrolyte flow through the porous electrode

Composite silica-si/polymer membranes for water purification or bio-separation. The design of this membrane is inspired by the structure of the biological prototypes. The Si or polymer template applied here is prepared by lithography, the high-energy physical method. The silica nanochannel array growing on the template is conducted by chemical synthesis. And the separation or filtration characterization is conducted with the separation and filtration techniques in chemical engineering.

Start Year

2016

Description

Collaboration with membrane science and technology research group in University of Bath: bio-inspired separation membrane

Organisation

University of Bath

Department

Department of Chemical Engineering

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Academic/University

PI Contribution

Lead author of the joint project entitled "Polymeric nanotubes on anodic alumina substrate", in charge of membrane design, synthesis, and characterization.

Vibration experiments are conducted in the Dept Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, using their equipment and facilities

Impact

Experimental data

Start Year

2014

Description

Dept. Computer Science, UCL

Organisation

University College London

Department

Department of Computer Science

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Academic/University

PI Contribution

Supervision of a MSc student to work on the development of a C++ code to simulate agent-based emergent structures

Collaborator Contribution

Supervision of a MSc student to work on the development of a C++ code to simulate agent-based emergent structures

Impact

No outcome

Start Year

2015

Description

ExxonMobil

Organisation

ExxonMobil

Department

ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company

Country

United States

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2013

Description

GE Healthcare

Organisation

GE Healthcare Limited

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2014

Description

GlaxoSmithKline PLC

Organisation

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)

Country

Global

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2013

Description

Harris Corporation

Organisation

Harris Corporation

Country

United States

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

This project is part of interaction between CNIE and the Institute of Making, but crucially we build on the links to other international centers of excellence in the field of biologicaly inspired engineering such as the Wyss Institute. Through the workshop we will also build on UCL's strong recent history in researching adaptive architectures, including snake-like robots capable of recovering from partial muscle damage [1] and adaptive trusses to minimize the weight of largescale engineering projects. The chainmail structures at the heart of this project have many applications in rapidly growing sectors such as soft robotics, wearable technology, medical devices, aerodynamics, and acoustics, and we aim to continue developing their self-adaption and self-healing properties

Collaborator Contribution

Scientific input to (a) investigate the ability of actuated chainmail fabrics to recover from damage when individual links fail, and (b) to collaborate with the UK and international community on chainmail fabrics applications.

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2013

Description

Laing O'Rourke plc

Organisation

Laing O'Rourke

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2013

Description

Metal 3D printing via Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS)

Organisation

Imperial College London

Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Academic/University

PI Contribution

We tested and 3D printed nature-inspired fractal flow field

Collaborator Contribution

15 nature-inspired fractal flow field 3D printed at Imperial College London

Impact

We published a paper on the obtained results - "A Lung-Inspired Approach to Scalable and Robust Fuel Cell Design"

Start Year

2016

Description

Neutron imaging experiment at HZB

Organisation

Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

Department

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin for Materials and Energy

Country

Germany

Sector

Public

PI Contribution

We visualized water distribution in mesh and parallel based PEMFC (with water management strategy) using neutron radiography

Collaborator Contribution

They provided facility for us to conduct the experiment

Impact

We are in a process of writing a research paper based on the results we obtained.

Start Year

2017

Description

Neutron imaging experiment at PSI

Organisation

Paul Scherrer Institute

Country

Switzerland

Sector

Public

PI Contribution

We visualized water distribution in fractal flow-field based PEMFC using neutron radiography

Collaborator Contribution

They provided facility for us to conduct the experiment

Impact

We are in a process of writing a research paper based on the results we obtained.

- Performed CFD simulations with Barracuda software, not available in our department

Impact

Not outcomes yet

Start Year

2015

Description

Particulate Solid Research Inc

Organisation

Particulate Solid Research

Country

United States

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2013

Description

PerkinElmer

Organisation

Perkin Elmer

Country

United States

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering, especially in lab products and services.

Impact

CNIE researchers have been trained to use some lab products and services.

Start Year

2016

Description

Product Development Collaboration Agreement

Organisation

Geistlich

Country

Switzerland

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

Our part of the project was to provide the intellectual property that was developed within this award. In addition we provided funding for an in-vivo animal study that will form part of an eventual CE mark application.

Collaborator Contribution

Gesitlich are covering the costs of all regulatory steps towards applying for a CE mark for a novel bone graft material developed within this project. This includes packaging, sterilisation, and establishing manufacturing protocols.

Impact

Outpus are currently being generated.

Start Year

2018

Description

Project authors

Organisation

University College London

Department

Chemical Engineering

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Academic/University

PI Contribution

I am a researcher within the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering in the Chemical Engineering department. The Centre group, led by Prof Marc-Olivier Coppens, seeks to discover fundamental mechanisms behind desirable features in certain biological systems, such as scalability, robustness and efficiency, and apply these to development of technological solutions to challenges related to sustainability and scalable manufacturing. Thus, a combination of theoreticians, computational and experimental researchers is required.
Currently, I investigate the characteristics of the protein contact interface with mesoporous materials through all-atom molecular dynamics simulation. This research is essential to improve applications in drug delivery, bioseparations, and biocatalysis.

I am a researcher within the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering in the Chemical Engineering department. The Centre group, led by Prof Marc-Olivier Coppens, seeks to discover fundamental mechanisms behind desirable features in certain biological systems, such as scalability, robustness and efficiency, and apply these to development of technological solutions to challenges related to sustainability and scalable manufacturing. Thus, a combination of theoreticians, computational and experimental researchers is required.
Currently, I investigate the characteristics of the protein contact interface with mesoporous materials through all-atom molecular dynamics simulation. This research is essential to improve applications in drug delivery, bioseparations, and biocatalysis.

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2013

Description

SHELL GLOBAL SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL B.V

Organisation

Shell Global Solutions International BV

Country

Netherlands

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to multi-disciplinary expertise (such as in chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture), cutting-edge research and knowledge in hierarchical transport networks, force balancing and self-organization.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Start Year

2013

Description

Sabic Americas, Inc.

Organisation

Sabic Americas, Inc.

Country

United States

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

State University of New York - CNIE Inspiration Grant: The Self-Organising Built Environment: Calibrating Relationships Across Scales

Organisation

Bristol Heart Institute

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Charity/Non Profit

PI Contribution

We address dynamic self-organisation centred on the urban design scale. Since selforganisation may lead to emergent outcomes that are positive or negative, any 'urban selforganisation' should have either some selective steer, or some control built into its 'urban coding'. Hence there is a need for communication across scales, e.g. via generative or regulatory codes, and 'environmental feedback' through selective control by designers, planning authorities, etc. We focus on urban design as a testbed, as this can target both fixed design solutions and more openended collective outcomes, but we expect results to inform both architecture and planning.

Collaborator Contribution

1. (a) Empirical research into the design/planning of the built environment, examining specific historical cases of designs, plans and codes, and their self-organisation, adaptation and evolution, through historical tracking of specific adaptations of codes, plans and designs, etc. (b) Exploratory research developing new ways of designing/planning/engineering the built environment, building on insights from the present project, engaging with built environment industry professionals to bring the nature-inspired approaches to design, planning and engineering practice.
2. Extended research, enlarging the current project, establishing relationships and boundaries (e.g. biomimetic, mechanistic, etc.) across all other areas of CfNIE territory, e.g. this would invite collaboration of experts (natural scientists, engineers, etc.) across the full portfolio of CfNIE projects. The knowledge map/devices would then cover the entire CfNIE territory - and beyond.

Impact

N/a

Start Year

2016

Description

State University of New York - CNIE Inspiration Grant: The Self-Organising Built Environment: Calibrating Relationships Across Scales

Organisation

State University of New York

Department

College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Country

United States

Sector

Academic/University

PI Contribution

We address dynamic self-organisation centred on the urban design scale. Since selforganisation may lead to emergent outcomes that are positive or negative, any 'urban selforganisation' should have either some selective steer, or some control built into its 'urban coding'. Hence there is a need for communication across scales, e.g. via generative or regulatory codes, and 'environmental feedback' through selective control by designers, planning authorities, etc. We focus on urban design as a testbed, as this can target both fixed design solutions and more openended collective outcomes, but we expect results to inform both architecture and planning.

Collaborator Contribution

1. (a) Empirical research into the design/planning of the built environment, examining specific historical cases of designs, plans and codes, and their self-organisation, adaptation and evolution, through historical tracking of specific adaptations of codes, plans and designs, etc. (b) Exploratory research developing new ways of designing/planning/engineering the built environment, building on insights from the present project, engaging with built environment industry professionals to bring the nature-inspired approaches to design, planning and engineering practice.
2. Extended research, enlarging the current project, establishing relationships and boundaries (e.g. biomimetic, mechanistic, etc.) across all other areas of CfNIE territory, e.g. this would invite collaboration of experts (natural scientists, engineers, etc.) across the full portfolio of CfNIE projects. The knowledge map/devices would then cover the entire CfNIE territory - and beyond.

Impact

N/a

Start Year

2016

Description

State University of New York - CNIE Inspiration Grant: The Self-Organising Built Environment: Calibrating Relationships Across Scales

Organisation

University of Edinburgh

Department

Centre for Integrative Physiology

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Academic/University

PI Contribution

We address dynamic self-organisation centred on the urban design scale. Since selforganisation may lead to emergent outcomes that are positive or negative, any 'urban selforganisation' should have either some selective steer, or some control built into its 'urban coding'. Hence there is a need for communication across scales, e.g. via generative or regulatory codes, and 'environmental feedback' through selective control by designers, planning authorities, etc. We focus on urban design as a testbed, as this can target both fixed design solutions and more openended collective outcomes, but we expect results to inform both architecture and planning.

Collaborator Contribution

1. (a) Empirical research into the design/planning of the built environment, examining specific historical cases of designs, plans and codes, and their self-organisation, adaptation and evolution, through historical tracking of specific adaptations of codes, plans and designs, etc. (b) Exploratory research developing new ways of designing/planning/engineering the built environment, building on insights from the present project, engaging with built environment industry professionals to bring the nature-inspired approaches to design, planning and engineering practice.
2. Extended research, enlarging the current project, establishing relationships and boundaries (e.g. biomimetic, mechanistic, etc.) across all other areas of CfNIE territory, e.g. this would invite collaboration of experts (natural scientists, engineers, etc.) across the full portfolio of CfNIE projects. The knowledge map/devices would then cover the entire CfNIE territory - and beyond.

Impact

N/a

Start Year

2016

Description

State University of New York - CNIE Inspiration Grant: The Self-Organising Built Environment: Calibrating Relationships Across Scales

Organisation

University of Oxford

Department

Acute Vascular Imaging Centre

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

We address dynamic self-organisation centred on the urban design scale. Since selforganisation may lead to emergent outcomes that are positive or negative, any 'urban selforganisation' should have either some selective steer, or some control built into its 'urban coding'. Hence there is a need for communication across scales, e.g. via generative or regulatory codes, and 'environmental feedback' through selective control by designers, planning authorities, etc. We focus on urban design as a testbed, as this can target both fixed design solutions and more openended collective outcomes, but we expect results to inform both architecture and planning.

Collaborator Contribution

1. (a) Empirical research into the design/planning of the built environment, examining specific historical cases of designs, plans and codes, and their self-organisation, adaptation and evolution, through historical tracking of specific adaptations of codes, plans and designs, etc. (b) Exploratory research developing new ways of designing/planning/engineering the built environment, building on insights from the present project, engaging with built environment industry professionals to bring the nature-inspired approaches to design, planning and engineering practice.
2. Extended research, enlarging the current project, establishing relationships and boundaries (e.g. biomimetic, mechanistic, etc.) across all other areas of CfNIE territory, e.g. this would invite collaboration of experts (natural scientists, engineers, etc.) across the full portfolio of CfNIE projects. The knowledge map/devices would then cover the entire CfNIE territory - and beyond.

Impact

N/a

Start Year

2016

Description

Study for the industrial uptake of a novel intensified technology

Organisation

National Nuclear Laboratory

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Public

PI Contribution

Test the applicability of the process in the separation of certain metal components (e.g. depleted uranium) from nitric acid solutions of spent fuel by organic solvents.

Collaborator Contribution

In-kind contribution to this project in the form of staff time, providing materials, and use of their site facilities whenever required.

Impact

The project will offer convincing case studies in support for applying these novel technologies in standard engineering practice.

Start Year

2016

Description

Supported gold catalyst materials to enhance propylene epoxidation

Organisation

University of Utah

Department

Department of Chemical Engineering

Country

United States

Sector

Academic/University

PI Contribution

We have designed new approaches to make new different catalyst for the epoxidation reaction.

Collaborator Contribution

The discussion with collaborators is extremely helpful to modify the designs of the catalyst. It gives me new directions and ideas to work on the project.
The guidance by the collaborator help me to be on the right track in the project.

Impact

We are in the process of writing a research paper based on the results.

We are trying to make new gold based catalyst for the epoxidation reaction. This has led us to write a research paper.

Collaborator Contribution

The discussion with collaborators is extremely helpful giving new directions and insight in the project.
We use their facilities for catalyst testing.

Impact

We are in a process of writing new article based on the current research.

Start Year

2015

Description

Synfuels China Tecnology Co., Ltd

Organisation

Synfuels China Technology

Country

China

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

Impact

Proactive research engagement between partner and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering.

- Provided experimental equipment and facilities not inmediately available in our department. Built a set-up especially designed for this project.
- Shipped equipment to UCL
- Provided a MSc to work on this project. Part of the experiments are done in Delft and part in UCL.

Impact

We are expected to publish the results arisen from this collaboration.

Investigate novel intensified extraction technologies, which combine impinging-jet mixing with ionic liquids as solvents. Impinging jets will be generated from the collision of two (immiscible) liquid streams at high throughputs. To intensify the process, the impinging jets will be confined in small cells where energy will be dissipated in very small volumes and will increase significantly the mixing intensity and the interfacial area, thus considerably enhancing mass transfer rates. The process will benefit from the application of environmentally friendly solvents (Ionic Liquids).

Collaborator Contribution

Prof Seddon has previously investigated the applications of ionic liquids to the treatment of nuclear waste using electrochemical separations as well as the stability of ionic liquids to radiation.

CNIE Inspiration Grant was awarded to perform a collaboratory project - Pulsating flow inspired by blood circulation to improve fluid dynamics in flow reactors and crystallizers between the CNIE at UCL and University of Strathclyde.

Dr Jayesh S. Bhatt (in collaboration with Dr David A. Faux and Prof Peter J. McDonald from University of Surrey) has been awarded a Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering Inspiration Grant to perform a collaboratory project - Modelling hierarchical transport network of rocks using multiscale modelling and Xray tomography between the CNIE at UCL and University of Surrey.

Collaborator Contribution

Scientific input

Impact

New research collaboration links were established with University of Surrey. 6 Months research project funded by CNIE.

Start Year

2015

Description

the Kurt J. Lesker Company

Organisation

Kurt J Lesker Company

Country

United Kingdom

Sector

Private

PI Contribution

The partner has been provided with access to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering's multi-disciplinary expertise, cutting-edge research and knowledge in such areas as chemical engineering, biochemical and mechanical engineering, materials discovery, computer science and architecture.

Collaborator Contribution

The partner allowed us access to their expertise in various areas which are relevant to the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering, especially in high-quality vacuum products and systems.

Impact

CNIE researchers have been trained to use high-quality vacuum products and systems.

AeroGraft is a synthetic granular bone substitute made partly of the same mineral bone is made of. We have developed technology to be able to completely alter the composition and the density of the material; this gives us ultimate control over its properties. Consequently we are developing two products a AeroGraft-F and AeroGraft-S which both have high osseointegration rates (>90%) but differing remodeling rates (3-4 months and indefinite) that meet the need of dentists for their various clinical procedures. Our technology is different and advantageous compared to any conventional materials used which have poor osseointegration values (~45%) and remodeling rates (2-3 years).
We have competed in-vitro testing and developed a number of compositions which we are taking to animal in-vivo stage. A pre-clinical pilot in-vivo study has been planned to begin in February. This will be a four animal miniature pig study performing alveolar socket grafting, to be performed in Sweden, using six test materials and two control materials. The results of this will be used to refine which composition to take forward for further pre-clinical in-vivo testing. Secondly the results will be used to provide figures to base statistical significance upon for future animal in-vivo studies. We will measure osseointegration as bone-to-graft contact and remodeling rates using fluorochrome labels. This will be compared against the results the two control materials.

Type

Therapeutic Intervention - Medical Devices

Current Stage Of Development

Refinement. Non-clinical

Year Development Stage Completed

2014

Development Status

Actively seeking support

Impact

We have received £15,000 as prize money from the Royal Academy of Engineering after winning the JC Gammon Award. The preclinical development is currently being performed at UCL where a post-doc and MSc student currently working on it.

Title

AeroGraft further development

Description

Commercialization funding secured. Confidential

Type

Therapeutic Intervention - Medical Devices

Current Stage Of Development

Refinement. Non-clinical

Year Development Stage Completed

2016

Development Status

Under active development/distribution

Impact

N/a

Title

Bioactive Aerogel - Remineralisation Agent

Description

Bioactive Aerogel is a novel material developed for enamle remineralisation (amoungst other applications). It is a silicate based amorphous with an ultra-low density. It is made of a silica polymer network and is bioactive (able to produce hydroxyapatite on its surface) due to the incorporation of calcium and phosphate ions in the silicate network. The silicate network can be designed to control the rate of hydroxyapatite formation on the material surface and the degradation rate of the silica in-vivo.
The advantages of our technology are:
• Rapid action compared to comparative products
• More resistant to acid challenge
• 'Smart' technology that releases Ca2+, PO4- and F- ions when in acid environment

Type

Therapeutic Intervention - Medical Devices

Current Stage Of Development

Refinement. Non-clinical

Year Development Stage Completed

2019

Development Status

Under active development/distribution

Impact

We have shown the cost to produce these materials compared to conventional materials used for the same application is 56% cheaper.

Title

xCT - VRFBs

Description

x-Ray Microtomography can be used as a diagnostic tool for electrode degradation in vanadium redox flow batteries

Type Of Technology

New/Improved Technique/Technology

Year Produced

2014

Impact

US Pacific Northwest National Lab requested collaboration in order to use the 3D microtomography data to model the electrolyte flow through the catalyst structure

Company Name

AeroGraft

Description

AeroGraft is a (or will be) an innovative medical device and dental products company. Our first product, currently under development, is a granular bone graft substitute for dentistry that is used to rebuild bone in anticipation for an implant fitting after tooth loss. It has been designed to integrate well with the host bone and then be remodelled by the body and replaced by host bone to allow implant placement. This product has been developed to tailor different remodelling rates and with osseointegration values far superior to existing products and ideal for surgeons.

Year Established

2013

Impact

JC Gammon Award and Enterprise Fellowship Award from Royal Academy of Engineering

Presentations were made by CNIE members and collaborators. The open session were available for students, researchers, staff and invited guests. This sparked questions and discussion afterwards. Also, the event had an open Poster Session where student, researchers and collaborators presented their research projects. This facilitated a borader engagement with participants and their involvement into CNIE on-going activities.

Materials Research Society of Japan's 15th International Conference on Advanced Materials

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Marc-Olivier Coppens delivered a keynote speech during the event. The IUMRS conferences are growing year by year and keep providing materials scientists and engineers with unique opportunities to highlight their R&D achievements and to develop the international networking

The focus of this workshop is on the rational design of porous inorganic materials, especially of

- Catalysts and Adsorbents

- Membranes & Filters

- Thermal Insulators

- Electrochemical Systems

A half-day session will be devoted to each topic. Oral presentations will be given by academic and industrial researchers dealing with synthesis methods, porosity modulation strategies, physicochemical characterization, functional characterization and modeling. One poster session will complete the program. This workshop will allow the participants to exchange on up-to-date research as well as on industrial requirements for materials and processes. By gathering these two communities we hope for fruitful networking and further collaborations between the participants.

The XXII nd International Conference on Chemical Reactors (CHEMREACTOR-22)

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

On 19-23 September 2016, CNIE hosted The XXI International Conference on Chemical Reactors (CHEMREACTOR-22) at UCL. This event was co-organised with the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The conference was well attended, with top speakers in the field, and around 200 national and international participants.

'Novel Analytical Techniques' conference was co-organised by by Quantachrome and CNIE at 10th November at UCL. This covered such areas as BET, Mercury Porosimetry, Chemisorption, True density measurement and Dynamic sorption methods. This helped to engage and educate postgraduate students and researchers. The event generated requests for further infromation.

'Sustainable Materials Inspired by the Living world for Energy (SMILE 2016)', IFPEN/RUEIL - 6-8 April 2016

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Professor Marc-Olivier Coppens was an invited Keynote Speaker at 'Sustainable Materials Inspired by the Living world for Energy (SMILE 2016).This Conference is endorsed by the French Academy of Science.

The AIChE Annual Meeting is the premier educational forum for chemical engineers interested in innovation and professional growth. Academic and industry experts will cover wide range of topics relevant to cutting-edge research, new technologies, and emerging growth areas in chemical engineering.

The AIChE Annual Meeting is the premier educational forum for chemical engineers interested in innovation and professional growth. A number of CNIE researchers presented and showcased their research at the event. Dr Panos Trogadas (CNIE Postdoc) chaired a new session with MO Coppens on Nature-Inspired Electrochemical Systems. MO Coppens also presented two invited presentations, one for a session in honour of Prof Mori, and one on the occasion of his reception of the PTF PSRI Lectureship Award for Fluidization. CNIE alumni presented as well.

CNIE's Nidhi Kapil and Dr Victor Francia presented at the 25th International Conference on Chemical Reaction Engineering in Florence on 20-23 May 2018. A talk from CNIE on 'Supported gold catalytic nanoparticles with molecular control over the chemical and geometric environment', was presented at the event.

Gave an invited presentation at the 4th EPSRC Manufacturing the Future Conference, entitled: Nature Inspired Engineering: Addressing challenges in sustainability and scalable manufacturing. Some of the UK's leading academics, industrialists and senior government representatives discussed how new research and government programmes can support the needs of the UK's key manufacturing sectors.

gave a presentation on Nature Inspired Chemical Engineering at Warsaw University of Technology (WUT), leading engineering school in Poland, on the occasion of the 4th European Young Engineers Conference, focused mainly on Process Engineering PhD students, and intended for undergraduate and graduate students. Generated significant interest and discussion afterwards.

Oral presentation titled, "Nature-Inspired Design and Synthesis of Porous Materials for Catalysis and Separations" and participation in the round table session devoted to discussion on the theme "Multiscale Approaches of process intensification". This sparked questions and discussion afterwards, helped to create new collaborative links.

Presentations were made by CNIE members and collaborators. The open session were available for students, researchers, staff and invited guests. This sparked questions and discussion afterwards. Also, the event had an open Poster Session where student, researchers and collaborators presented their research projects. This facilitated a borader engagement with participants and their involvement into CNIE on-going activities.

The theme of the 8th conference was "New Era of Chemical Engineering", emphasizing not only the role of chemical engineers in the development of clean and sustainable processes, but also exploring the frontiers for developing fundamentals needed to tackle these challenges. So it perfectly suits CNIE. I was chairing the session on Particle Technology and gave two invited presentations. This let to requests for further informational and significant interest to CNIE initiatives.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2015

Description

8th World Congress on Particle Technology

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Prof Marc-Olivier Coppens, Dr Victor Francia and Kaiqiao Wu from the CNIE presented at the 8th World Congress on Particle Technology (WCPT), held in conjunction with the 2018 AIChE Spring Meeting & 14th Global Congress on Process Safety. At the event, Prof Marc-Olivier Coppens presented a plenary talk on, 'Nature-Inspired Chemical Engineering - a Pathway to Innovation in Particle Technology', as well as an educational workshop with Prof Daniel Lepek from The Cooper Union on Nature Inspired Chemical Engineering (NICE) applications in particle technology. Together they discussed the NICE methodology and the development of a NICE course for senior undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students.

Delivered presentations as follows:-The Nanoscale in Chemical Reaction Engineering: From Analysis to Design-Hierarchical Carbon-Based Electrode Materials for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries-A Nature-Inspired Approach to the Confinement and Control of Catalytic Active Sites-To See a World in a Grain of Sand-Protein Confinement in Mesoporous Silica - Effects of Surface Curvature Investigated By Neutron Scattering and CatalysisAttracted significant interest of participants, requests about participation and involvement

The AIChE Annual Meeting is the premier educational forum for chemical engineers interested in innovation and professional growth. Academic and industry experts cover wide range of topics relevant to cutting-edge research, new technologies, and emerging growth areas in chemical engineering.Number of presentation were made:-Pattern Formation in Fluidized Beds and Vertically Vibrated Granular Layers: Similarities and Differences-The Nanoscale in Chemical Reaction Engineering: From Analysis to Design-Hierarchical Carbon-Based Electrode Materials for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries-A Nature-Inspired Approach to the Confinement and Control of Catalytic Active Sites-To See a World in a Grain of Sand-Protein Confinement in Mesoporous Silica - Effects of Surface Curvature Investigated By Neutron Scattering and CatalysisThese led to establishing new collaborative links with other research institutions/groups and industry, participants were interested in getting more information and followups.

Alan Jones Memorial Session at this year's BACG conference, University of Leeds, 30th June 2016

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Invited talk given on 'Polymorph screening and characterisation of Diastereomeric salt pairs' at joint conference of 12th International Workshop of the Crystal Growth of Organic Material & 47th Annual British Association of Crystal Growth Conference. Attracted attention to CNIE and our research.

Around 250 people attended a panel discussion followed by a reception afterwards.

There were many questions asked by members of the public afterwards about the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering which was one of the sponsors of this event.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2014

Description

Animals and Engineers: learning from nature

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

Yes

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Public/other audiences

Results and Impact

Ignited a dialogue on how to solve challenging problems, such as those related to energy, sustainability, health or scalable manufacturing, by learning from fundamental mechanisms behind desirable features in natural systems, and using lessons from nature to design innovative and effective solutions to these pressing problems.

Participants were inspired by the structures that animals have built into their own bodies, and this is leading to new materials and new solutions to long-standing problems. It generated strong interest from potential collaborators and general public.

Gave a keynote presentation on NICE, and together with Michele Lynch (PhD student) presented her work on enzyme stabilisation inspired by chaperonins. This attracted significant interest from PhD and early career researchers and brought together the research community in these important areas of CNIE research themes.

Professor Coppens joined a plenary session and opened the Asia Pacific Conference of Catalysis and Reaction Engineering(APCRE) in Shanghai.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Asian Pacific Community of Chemical and Process Engineering (APCChE) 2017

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Professor Coppens was invited to attend the APCChE conference and deliver a keynote speech. The APCChE is a bi-annual conference at which process engineering and industrial chemists come together to discuss latest developments in the field, recognise outstanding achievement and share lessons learned. He was one of several prestigious speakers.

Presented poster on research at international conference. Attracted significant attention of the participants and followups.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2015

Description

Bloomsbury Festival

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)

Results and Impact

The Bloomsbury Festival is an annual, free celebration taking place across Bloomsbury. It was a programme of over 200 cultural events and activities taking place over 6 days (15-20th October 2013). CNIE presentation resulted in strong interests from participants and follow-up engagement activity afterwards.

CNIE developed a good links with other research institutions, individual researches and professionals who have interest in area of Natural Inspired Engineering.

A workshop was organised by the EPSRC "Frontier Engineering" Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering (CNIE) on 28 July 2015, to stimulate discussions between researchers of other Centres from across the UK, industrial partners, and CNIE researchers. These discussions led to lots of ideas for new projects that could benefit from a nature-inspired engineering approach. Four collaborative 'Inspiration' projects were funded and started with external partners.

A Call for "Inspiration" Grants was launched,and opened to all academic researchers in the UK. The aim of these short postdoctoral projects is to explore opportunities, in collaboration with CNIE researchers at UCL, to apply nature-inspired engineering within other projects and/or to obtain preliminary results prior to applying for a longer-term grant.

The Call for Inspiration Grants was launched, and opened to all academic researchers in the UK. The aim of these short postdoctoral projects is to explore opportunities, in collaboration with CNIE researchers at UCL, to apply nature-inspired engineering within other projects and/or to obtain preliminary results prior to applying for a longer-term grant.

The AIChE Annual Meeting is the premier educational forum for Chemical Engineers interested in innovation and professional growth. At the event, Prof. Marc-Olivier Coppens chaired a session on the Fundamentals of Fluidization. Five Group members from the UCL Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering (CNIE) also be presenting papers at the AIChE Annual Meeting.

The interview took place during the 8th World Congress on Particle Technology, where Prof Coppens was invited to deliver a plenary keynote.The video was shot by Chenected.com, a unique online community created for and by young professional chemical engineers. Presented by AIChE, ChEnected is where chemical engineers can read, view, contribute, and engage with everything Chem-E. Learn new skills, solve challenges, find mentors, engage with other chemical engineers, and gain more exposure to hiring companies. During the interview, Prof Marc-Olivier Coppens discussed 'Nature-Inspired Chemical Engineering - a Pathway to Innovation in Particle Technology', with Dr Ben Freireich from Particulate Solid Research.

This conference brought together researchers, engineers and scientists from around the UK to explore the latest technological advances and research results in core areas of chemical engineering. Through a combination of a distinguished plenary speaker, parallel technical sessions with invited talks by leading experts from academia and industry, and interactive poster sessions, participants will showcase their research efforts and technologies, and share visions with researchers in the UK.Professor Marc-Olivier Coppens (CNIE Director) chaired the session 'Reactions and Catalysis Engineering'. This improved CNIE visibility and generated new collaborative links for CNIE around the UK. New request for further engagement were received.

Served in scientific committee and made presentation on Nature-Inspired Transport Optimisation. This attracted questions and discussion afterwards, and the researchers reported increased interest in related CNIE themes of research.

Delivered The EarthFlows lecture: 'A random walk through porous media: Diffusion under confinement' at The 1st EarthFlows seminar held at the University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, on Thursday 18 and Friday 19 June 2015. It helped to provide fundamentally new understanding of the dynamics of fluid-solid interfaces for a number of important geophysical flow processes. Attracted a significant interest to CNIE and research we do.

Women in Engineering - or lack thereof - is the hot topic. The event was to discuss options and find out what others are doing to address this challenge. It sparked more interest among women in Engineering science

The event influenced the decisions among the scientific society on how to address the challenge locally but also internationally.

The presentation entitled "Chaperonin-Inspired Enzyme Protection by Mesoporous Silica" was doen at the European Symposium on Biochemical Engineering Sciences(ESBES), Dublin, Ireland, 11-14 September 2016. This sparked questions and discussion afterwards.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2016

Description

Featured article in IChemE's "The Chemical Engineer"

Form Of Engagement Activity

A magazine, newsletter or online publication

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Public/other audiences

Results and Impact

Marc-Olivier Coppens was interviewed for the IChemE's "The Chemical Engineer" magazine to discuss Careers in Chemical Engineering. The article, written by Chemical Engineer, Yasmin Ali

Three presentations to over 300 students and staff, entitled "Nature Inspired Chemical Engineering - Pathways to Innovation and Sustainability", "A Chemical Engineering Approach to Addressing Global Challenges" and "Adsorption, Diffusion and Catalytic Activity of Enzymes in Nanoporous Materials" generated substantial interest among undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff. It attracted new collaborators to CNIE.

After the presentations academic staff expressed interest to collaborate in areas relevant to CNIE. Also, it ignited a notable interest from students who would consider Nature Inspired Engineering as future direction of their studies.

I represented the CNIE at the Gordon Research Conference: "Catalysis - From Theory to Commercialization". The conference takes place at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire, US, 12-17 June 2016. I presented a poster titled "Statistically guided synthesis optimization of a hierarchically ordered micro-meso porous titanosilicate for heterogeneous catalysis." The program for the 2016 GRC in Catalysis focused on four critical areas of catalytic science; these being Synthesis of New Materials, In Situ and Operando Characterization, Computational Modeling, and Reaction Mechanisms and how the interplay of each of these areas leads to better understanding and finally a working catalyst.

Host for Guest Researchers. The list for guest researchers so far: - Daniel Lepek, Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering at Cooper Union, NY- Dr Soon-Hwa Jung: she brought over 10 years of R&D experience from LG Chem, Korea, on fluidisation, catalysis and coatings- Annelien Schijve started with the Bachelor Chemical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology and in 2015 she spent several months at CNIE, UCL to conduct research for her Bachelor thesis.

The IChemE Catalysis Special Interest Group, in collaboration with University College London (UCL) and the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering, organised a one-day event focusing on catalysis research that spans the area from reaction kinetics to transport processes in catalysts and reactors, from a theoretical as well as experimental perspective. The event was an excellent opportunity for chemists and chemical engineers working on catalysis to discuss their work and network

Award winning charity, which empowers students from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve their potential and progress to STEM and research careers through high quality work placements and careers guidance. After wonderful experiences in 2015 and 2016, CNIE again hosted two students for two weeks in summer 2017. This involved lab experiments, numerical simulations, and paper presentations.

On 10 July, UCL hosted a symposium to celebrate the official opening of the LPEM Centre. The event inaugurated the world's first video liquid TEM capable of looking at the formation and evolution of structures in flowing liquids, including soft materials, cells and catalytic nanoparticles. It will help to characterise and develop new nature-inspired materials. This unique facility was funded by a grant by the EPSRC, led by Professors Giuseppe Battaglia, Ivan Parkin and Marc-Olivier Coppens (CNIE Director), with additional support from JEOL, DENS Solutions, Gatan and UCL.

The 2013-2014 series of research workshops (listed below) engaged researchers from multiple disciplines together for the day to explore common materials and making-related research interests. These workshops typically gather together a range of speakers on a theme that spans disciplines, giving an idea of the breadth and wealth of materials and making research. The purpose of these days is explicitly to encourage new interdisciplinary research projects that draw on the expertise we haveat UCL, as well as in the Institute's wider community of researchers, makers and manufacturers. Materials at the Centre, April 20133D Manufacturing, October 2013Art History Forum, October 2013Digital Humanities Forum, November 2013Making Repairs, February 2014

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2013,2014

Description

Institute of Making - Research Workshops and Events 2014/2015

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Study participants or study members

Results and Impact

The Institute of Making curated 14 research workshops and events in 2014-2015, reaching participants both within and outside of UCL's research community. The series of research workshops (listed below) engaged researchers from multiple disciplines together for the day to explore common materials and making-related research interests. These workshops typically gather together a range of speakers on a theme that spans disciplines, giving an idea of the breadth and wealth of materials and making research. The purpose of these days is explicitly to encourage new interdisciplinary research projects that draw on the expertise we have at UCL, as well as in the Institute's wider community of researchers, makers and manufacturers.Dinner with Picasso: The Unspoken Language of Food, March 2014Dinner with Picasso: Cheese - Enbracing Entropy, March 2014Dinner with Picasso: Five Ways with Algae, March 2014Dinner with Picasso: Green Eggs and Ham, April 2014Materials Histories: Emotions, April 2014Dinner with Picasso: An Oulipean Wine-Tasting, May 2014Materials Histories: Restorations, May 2014Materials and Society Conference, June 2014E Fibre: Material Engagement, July 2014Pop up Pop up, September 2014Dinner with Picasso: Final Workshop, September 2014Health, Safety and Creativity, October 2014Pyrotechnics with Matthew Tosh, December 2014Hidden Histories of Things, January 2015

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2014,2015

Description

Institute of Making - Research Workshops and Events 2015/2016

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Study participants or study members

Results and Impact

The 2015-2016 series of research workshops (listed below) engaged researchers from multiple disciplines together for the day to explore common materials and making-related research interests. These workshops typically gather together a range of speakers on a theme that spans disciplines, giving an idea of the breadth and wealth of materials and making research. The purpose of these days is explicitly to encourage new interdisciplinary research projects that draw on the expertise we have at UCL, as well as in the Institute's wider community of researchers, makers and manufacturers.

Stone as a Material, March 2015Glass Sponges, November 2015Exploring Curious Materials, December 2015Open AFT/LEGO2NANO, December 2015Engineers Save Lives, January 2016Hands on Learning, February 2016Co-Lab Biomaterials, February 2016Co-Lab Biomaterials, February 2016Design-Led Materials Finale, March 2016

International Panel for Mesoscience, at the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Marc-Olivier Coppens served on the first meeting of the International Panel for Mesoscience (IPM). Mesoscience is a large new programme of the National Science Foundation of China, led by Professor Jinghai Li (Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences). The IPM consists of several distinguished scientists from academia and industry in the UK, USA, Australia, China, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Hungary. The vision of the Mesoscience programme, which was refined at the IPM meeting, has a lot of complementarity with areas explored in the Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Investigation of Biological Computation

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

we have a working group working on arguably one of the great scientific challenges, namely understanding how biology does information processing specifically at the level of DNA. We seek to identify the fundamental laws of biological computation and in doing so then design a 'biological microcomputer'

currently the working group is investigating learning in biological and artificial systems, and also establishing a UCL-wide research activity in what we call 'living software'.

Seminar lecture at Universidad de Salamanca, Spain, invited by Prof. Mariano Martin, entitled "Multiphase Flows in the Process Industry. From process intensification to smart materials" to showcase the potential of exploring the dynamic nature of multiphase flows to design smart devices and processes.

Launched new class on Nature Inspired Chemical Engineering for senior undergraduate (MEng) and MSc students

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Undergraduate students

Results and Impact

The new class on Nature Inspired Chemical Engineering for senior undergraduate (MEng) and MSc students. This was accomplished with help of Daniel Lepek, Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering at Cooper Union, NY who spent his sabbatical with CNIE.

Served as an invited keynote speaker at the LowPerm2015 conference held as part of its Rencontres scientifiques series of events in Rueil-Malmaison, near Paris (France), on Tuesday 9, Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 June 2015.This helped to establish a platform for exchange and interaction between research and industry players from a variety of different disciplines working on the characterisation and modelling of low to very-low permeability media and nanoporous materials.

During the Materials Chemistry Consortium meeting the allocation of national HEC resources (CPU time on ARCHER UK National Supercomputing Service) are redistributed. Once submitted the project proposal, the executive committee have had the opportunity to ask question about the proposed project and requiring HEC time.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2015,2016

Description

Mentoring A/L students under "in2scienceuk" program

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Schools

Results and Impact

The "in2scienceuk" program offers summer University placements for A/L (i.e. high school) students from underprivileged backgrounds, who are interested in pursuing sciences. I was a mentor for two such students during 2016 and one student during 2015. The students shadowed me for two weeks and was engaged in lab based research and interacted with other researchers in the Department under my guidance.

The "in2scienceuk" program offers summer University placements for A/L (i.e. high school) students from underprivileged backgrounds, who are interested in pursuing sciences. I was a mentor for two students during 2015 and 2017. The students shadowed members of CNIE for two weeks and were engaged in lab based research.

The CNIE offered a four-year research training experience to student within the Centre. Nuffield encourage students who don't have a family history of going to university or who attend schools in low income areas.

Gave the opening plenary on "Adsorption, diffusion and catalytic activity of enzymes in nanoporous materials". A seminar on "Smarter Materials for a Sustainable Future - Ordered and semi-ordered materials for application in sustainable chemical technologies" was organised by Karen Edler (Bath) and Rueben Pfukwa (Stellenbosch) with support from the Royal Society (UK) and the National Research Foundation (South Africa). Some participants express interest in further collaboration and engagement.

Pofessor Coppens had the honour of being invited to attend the conference in Russia and gave a plenary talk titled, 'A Nature-inspired approach to process intensification: Avenues to scalability, efficiency and robustness'.

Ralph Anderson Memorial Lecture, 9th November 2016 at the Royal Society of Medicine London

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Industry/Business

Results and Impact

Professor Marc-Olivier Coppens presented the 19th Ralph Anderson Memorial Lecture, organised by the Worshipful Company of Horners, on Wednesday 9th November 2016 at the Royal Society of Medicine London. He will talk about "Nature-Inspired Chemical Engineering: A NICE approach to innovation and sustainability". Public engagement activity.

I was a speaker and adviser to winners of Royal Academy of Engineering Newcastle Bio-entrepreneurs Award.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2015

Description

Speaker at the Pint of Science Festival (London)

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Public/other audiences

Results and Impact

"The Pint of Science Festival" is a popular science public engagement event in London, aimed at educating the general public on current research conducted in universities. I gave a talk entitled, "Self-healing and self-adaptive materials inspired by nature", promoting the nature inspired engineering concept of the CNIE. Afterwards there was a Q&A session where members of the public asked questions related to the concept of nature-inspired engineering

20 school students attended this summer challenge. They were made aware of the future in science and research which included talk from experts (industry and academia). They were working on finding a solution for a common problem (Example waste water treatment). This sparked a lot of interest in them and they prepared a scientific report at the end of the challenge.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

Summer Challenge on Nature Inspired Chemical Engineering for Year 12 students

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Schools

Results and Impact

We hope that Summer Challenge students will choose to apply to UCL in Year 13, for whichever degree programme is right for them.

Summer Challenge is a set of academic evening courses for Year 12 students. The courses gave a realistic taste of university study, and allowed 12 students to explore a subject that interests their through the completion of a personal research project. Summer Challenge develops independent research, academic writing and presentation skills that are essential for university. It also provides impressive material to discuss in UCAS personal statement.

A lecture on 'Nature-inspired Chemical Engineering, a Transformative Methodology for Innovation' was given. It sparked interest in this research area.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2019

Description

Talk on "Supported Gold Clusters with Modulated Environment for Catalysis" at the AIChE Annual Meeting

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Postgraduate students

Results and Impact

The talk highlighted the achievements made in the project "Supported Gold Clusters with Modulated Environment for Catalysis". It was attended by more than 50 people from industry and academia. There were many interesting questions followed by discussion with the audience after the talk, specifically related to the filed of catalysis.

Talk on "Supported gold catalytic nanoparticles with molecular control over the chemical and geometric environment" at 25th International Conference on Chemical Reaction Engineering in Florence

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Postgraduate students

Results and Impact

The talk mainly highlighted the advancement in the project on 'Supported gold catalytic nanoparticles with molecular control over the chemical and geometric environment', under the session of Adv. Catalytic materials 1. The talk was attended by more tan 50 people from industry and academia. It raised a huge interest and discussion in the field of catalytic materials.

Presentations were made by CNIE members and collaborators. The open session were available for students, researchers, staff and invited guests. This sparked questions and discussion afterwards. Also, the event had an open Poster Session where student, researchers and collaborators presented their research projects. This facilitated a borader engagement with participants and their involvement into CNIE on-going activities.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

The HPC Materials Chemistry Consortium Conference (Cardiff, UK)

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Other audiences

Results and Impact

Attended the Materials Chemistry Consortium conference untitled "Modelling of Advanced Functional Materials using Terascale Computing" hosted by University of Cardiff, UK, where I presented a poster on Computational Study of Enzymes Confined in Mesoporous Materials for Therapeutic Applications.

Prof Marc-Olivier Coppens gave a talk on 'Drawing lessons from nature to engineer innovative solutions to our grand challenges' at The IET Engineering the Future Festival (IET London: Savoy Place, 6th October 2016). The video of his presentation is available here: https://tv.theiet.org/?eventvideoid=9319

The IET Engineering the Future Festival brought the next generation of engineers alongside some of the greatest innovators in the world to celebrate the achievements of the global engineering community.

The International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies (ICMAT) 2017

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Professor Coppens was honoured to be invited to deliver a keynote speech, and an invited presentation with Dr Panos Trogadas at the 9th International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies in Singapore. ICMAT is a major biennial event drawing more than 2500 delegates from 50+ countries, and is organised by The Materials Research Society of Singapore (MRS-S). It provides a major forum to discuss the latest developments and fosters collaboration between materials scientists. The keynote was entitled 'Nature-Inspired Engineering of High-Performance Porous Materials', and the invited presentation 'Hierarchical, Nature-Inspired Electrocatalysts for Electrochemical Devices'.

opened the Summer Challenge with the presentation on Nature-Inspired Chemical Engineering. The Summer Challenge 'Engineering Solutions from Nature' was planned in collaboration with the UCL Office of Widening Participation and organised with support of the EPSRC Centre for Nature Inspired Engineering (CNIE).

The Summer Challenge 2016, 'Nature-Inspired Chemical Engineering', planned and executed in collaboration with the UCL Office of Widening Participation and Department of Chemical Engineering in June 2016.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2016

Description

The XXII International Conference on Chemical Reactors (CHEMREACTOR-22), 2016

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

The CHEMREACTOR conference has a long history and solid tradition. It has been held in different countries and cities associated to major research centers, where activity is connected with the development of innovative chemical technology. I'm Co-Chair of the conference to be held on 19-23 September 2016 in London, UK.

Several researchers from the CNIE (Kaiqiao Wu, Jason Cho, Toby Neville, Victor Francia) participated in a program from UCL Culture, "The Pod", at the Grant Museum of Zoology in central London. The Pod is an event organised to engage the general public visiting the museum in discussing the link between nature and technology using items from the museum collections to describe the research developed at the CNIE.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

U.S. Department of Energy, DoE, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Policymakers/politicians

Results and Impact

Dr Victor Francia (CNIE postdoc) took part in a Workshop on Multiphase Flow Science at NETL, Morgantown, USA, presenting the work carried out in the CNIE on computational fluid dynamics within the open-source framework of the DOE. Collaborations were set up with NETL and MIT on experimental and numerical work to control dynamic bubble flows in granular systems.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

UCL Grand Challenge of Transformative Technology

Form Of Engagement Activity

A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

National

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Launched in 2016, the UCL Grand Challenge of Transformative Technology looks at how innovation and technology can have far-reaching benefits for society and the planet.This new Grand Challenge will fund cross-disciplinary work at UCL focusing on the social impact of new technology, nature inspired engineering and the exciting new field of living software.

Year 12 Summer Challenge is a programme of subject specific courses for Year 12 students attending state schools in or near London, whose parents have not been to university, and who are academically high achieving. The courses are organized jointly with the Widening Participation Office with the intent of increasing application and acceptance of disadvantaged students in higher education.

There are a number of courses on offer in a diverse range of STEM and humanities subjects, which are all taught by UCL academics and PhD students.

Courses run for six weeks at UCL's campus in Bloomsbury during June and July, on either Tuesday or Wednesday evenings from 4pm-6:30pm.

The Chemical Engineering Course (Engineering Solutions from Nature) is filled by 20 students which are exposed to the broader elements of chemical engineering. Additionally, each student is guided through a societally relevant design project (sustainable energy/water supply) that culminates in an oral presentation and 1500 word formal report.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2014,2015

Description

UCL's 'How to Change the World' training programme

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Undergraduate students

Results and Impact

This is a unique hands-on training programme within the engineering undergraduate curriculum at UCL (the IEP) that equips rising engineering talent with the skills to develop creative and technically robust solutions to 21st-century challenges, to bring about positive social change. Dr Ayomi Perera and Dr Silo Meoto (CNIE postdocs) took part as UCL mentors in the programme.

Dr Ayomi Perera (CNIE postdoc) presented at the first-ever It's All Academic Festival, a celebration of all that is great at UCL, with campus-wide free indoor and outdoorevents run by staff and students.

Gave the opening plenary lecture on "A Nature-Inspired Approach to Catalysis Engineering"at the inaugural UK Catalysis Conference in Loughborough, 8-9 January 2015. This provided an opportunity for Catalytic scientists and Engineers from across the UK's academic and industrial communities to interact and network over the whole spectrum of Nature-Inspired Approach to Catalysis Engineering.

UK-Sri Lanka mini-symposium on Nanomaterials, UCL School of Pharmacy - 22nd September 2016

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

I was an invited speaker at the event, which was aimed at establishing research collaborations between UCL and the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2016

Description

University of Chester Christams Lecture

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Schools

Results and Impact

Materials Science and Engineering schools talk.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2016

Description

Visit to the North London Collegiate School to give a talk on 'Supported Gold Nanoparticle for Catalysis'

Form Of Engagement Activity

A talk or presentation

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Local

Primary Audience

Schools

Results and Impact

The North London Collegiate School runs a weekly lecture programme, Science Café, providing a platform for GCSE and A-level science students to explore what is beyond the curriculum. My talk took a pitch beginning from the basic level of chemistry to advance research performed in the CNIE lab.

This sparked the curiosity and interest among students towards science and engineering. The students showed immense interest in the field by asking many questions, followed by a discussion which was quite impressive.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2018

Description

Visiting scholars - PhD student at East China University of Science and Technology

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)

Results and Impact

Direct engagement with East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China allowed us to secure a PhD research project sponsored by Chinese Scholarship Council. See details below:Guanghua Ye, PhD student at East China University of Science and Technology,ShanghaiSeptember 2014-2015. Optimisation of Hierarchically Structured Porous Catalysts. Sponsored by Chinese Scholarship Council.

After presenting of The Centre for Natural Inspired Engineering (CNIE)The Centre for Natural Inspired Engineering (CNIE) and our areas of research interest, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai decided to start research collaboration with CNIE from a PhD project sponsored by Chinese Scholarship Council. We aim to gain more interest and increase our collaboration links with other researchers and High Education institutions in China to create an impact expected from CNIE.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2014

Description

Workshops with instrument manufacturers

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

Regional

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

CNIE organised several well-attended workshops with instrument manufacturers this year (Quantachrome, SAXSLAB/Xenocs and Shimadzu). These unique capabilities, and being part of their development, are crucial to deliver on the promise of the ambitious scientific and technological goals of the CNIE.

Year(s) Of Engagement Activity

2017

Description

World Congress of Chemical Engineering

Form Of Engagement Activity

Participation in an activity, workshop or similar

Part Of Official Scheme?

No

Geographic Reach

International

Primary Audience

Professional Practitioners

Results and Impact

Dr Victor Francia (CNIE postdoc) presented research on the self-assembly of granular matter and intensification of fluidised bed reactors.